


Seven Magnificent Babies

by JewellTrim



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Adopted Children, Alternate Universe - Babies, Alternate Universe - Children, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, De-Aged Buck, De-Aged Chris, De-Aged Ezra, De-Aged J. D., De-Aged Josiah, De-Aged Nathan, De-Aged Vin, Parent-Child Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-07
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-03 08:50:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14565402
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JewellTrim/pseuds/JewellTrim
Summary: They have fought off gangs, stopped robberies, and saved damsels in distress. Can they, however, survive bath time, trips to the store and timeouts?





	1. Bath Time

Bath Time

**JD-2, Vin-3, Ezra-5, Buck-6, Nathan-6, Chris-7, Josiah-10, Evie-30, Orrin-36**

There was never a more exhausting task then bath time. It was always a trying endeavor to get all the boys cleaned up and dressed for bed. The two young parents decided they would have the boys bathe in twos. Josiah and Nathan first since they were the least difficult, Chris and Buck next because they usually liked to take baths together, leaving the three youngest to take the last bath.

After Nathan’s bath, Evie decided to give him a haircut. They had set it up in the parent’s bathroom after the bath. Nathan would fidget in his seat, not wanting to sit still.

“Hold still dear. We’re almost finished,” Evie said for the third time.

Josiah, who was dressed in his pajamas, was sitting on the closed toilet watching the progress.

“Can I try?” asked the older boy.

“No, you’re too young,” his mother answered patiently.

Laughter down the hallway followed by little feet stomping informed her that Buck and Chris should be dressed now. Looking up from her task, she only gave a sigh as she saw only one of her sons actually dressed while the youngest was still in his Batman towel.

“Bucklin Abraham, you need to put on your PJs right now,” she called after him.

“Yes, mama!” came his loud reply that was followed by more pounding footsteps down the hall.

“Mommy, hurry up,” Nathan fidgeted again.

“Okay dear,” she smiled.

 

 

Orrin leaned back on his heels with a relieved sigh as he finished cleaning the last three. Ezra, the five-year-old, immediately climbed over the barrier to escape the crowded bath. He had to quickly catch his toddler up before he left the bathroom still wet.

Partially drying him, Orrin told Ezra to find one of his older brothers to help him finish the rest and to get his pajamas on.

One of the things he found simply adorable when watching his three youngest was the way they walked. They walked/ran on their tippy toes, making it look like they were bouncing slightly.

Ezra bounced down the hallway in search of help.

Vin and JD were the ones less willing to leave the water, playing at least ten minutes after.

“You boys can play for five more minutes then it’s time for bed,” Orrin said, getting to his feet to stepping to the doorway to make sure his other children had followed his instructions. Evie would not let him hear the end of it if he left them unattended.

Vin and JD, three and two-years-old, hardly paid heed to time restraints and only shrilled with laughter as they splashed around in what remained of the almost empty tub.

Orrin didn’t want to think about the water that would escape on the floor that he’d have to clean up later, and didn't want them hurting themselves so he drained most of the water out.

He had just gotten a confirmation that Buck and Ezra had their PJs on with Chris’s help with Ezra when the doorbell rang.

“I go!” called JD. A loud splash of water indicating he was getting out of the tub.

“No, I wanna!” came Vin’s equally loud response.

They slipped past their father, laughing in merriment as they bounced towards the stairs.

“Boys, neither of you are allowed back downstairs! Get back here!” Orrin ordered. It fell on deaf ears.

Buck, who had been in his room and no doubt was playing on his bed with Chris jumped off, landing with a loud thud before taking off after the toddlers.

“I can get JD!” he volunteered.

Chris, probably thinking this was a game of tag, hopped off his bed to join in, “I’ll get Vin!”

“No, don’t chase them. They’ll fall. Don’t excite them when they’re on the steps,” Orrin ordered, walking quickly to catch them.

There was a gate that went across the top part of the stairs to prevent the younger ones from crossing if they weren’t allowed, also to prevent them from accidentally falling down the stairs. Apparently, one of the older boys had gone down for possibly a glass of water and didn’t close it.

Vin and JD were now making their way down the stairs in their slow careful steps. With short legs and still the occasional fall, they knew not to try and run up or down the steps. Buck used this to his advantage to try and pick up JD who was about halfway. JD protested with a shriek and swinging his arms in displeasure. Chris, knowing a little better, passed Vin, who was almost to the bottom and picked him up from the front.

“He’s wet!” Chris said the obvious, pinching his face.

Vin giggled, but also began to squirm in his brother’s hold.

The doorbell rang again and Orrin tried to avoid his sons on the steps as he tried to reach it.

Behind him, he heard more shrieks and little boys laughing. Little pounding feet informed him that at least one of the toddlers escaped.

 

Evie frowned, hearing the noise outside the master bathroom and bedroom.

“I think someone’s ringing the doorbell,” Josiah said, still watching the progress.

Evie set down the razor and patted Nathan on the shoulders, “Wait right here, I need to go see who’s at the door and what is going on out there.”

Josiah, after waiting for his mother to leave the bathroom, shot up from his seat on the toilet and picked up the razor. Nathan, still under the big shirt used to the cut the boys’ hair, frowned at him warily.

“Stop!” Nathan shouted.

“I just want to do a little part,” Josiah tried to reason with his younger brother.

“No! Mommy! ‘siah got the razor and he’s trying to cut me!”

Josiah glared at his tattling brother and set down the razor with a humph. Evie walked quickly back into the bathroom.

“Josiah, why don’t you go wait in your room for lights out.”

It wasn’t a suggestion.

Josiah gave a big display of unwillingness and stubbornly stood there a moment longer before obeying and leaving the room.

 

 

Downstairs both Vin and JD were crying with their older brothers holding them.

Orrin sighed as he watched the sad scene of two crying naked toddlers being carried, Buck would be considered to be more like dragging, to him. Chris and Buck would have to change into dry pajamas since they were now damp from carrying the older two.

“Did I interrupt something?” asked Bryce, trying not to laugh at the hectic scene before him.

“Just the usual bath time before bed,” Orrin gave a tired sigh, “Boys, can you take Vin and JD up to your mom and they can tell her they’ve been bad.”

“No!” Vin cried, creating a huge fuss, “I’m hurt!”

“You did it to yourself,” Chris pointed out, “You fell when running. No one pushed you.”

Vin kicked his older brother in the shin in anger. Chris, not ever to be outdone or to take anything from anyone, especially if they were younger, smacked Vin in the arm.

The three-year-old was wailing now louder than ever.

“Christopher, we don’t hit,” Orrin reprimanded.

“He kicked me!” the seven-year-old protested.

Orrin groaned and asked to be excused while he dealt with his children.

They were all ushered back upstairs, most of them crying. JD’s crying was mostly to gain attention since everyone else was doing it.

After leaving them all with Evie upstairs, he closed the gate to the stairs and then went back down.

“Sorry about that.”

“It’s no problem. You’ve got seven little ones, right?” asked Bryce.

“Yep, it can be a handful at times, but they’re all great when they aren’t fighting with one another or screaming,” Orrin chuckled. He could hear Vin and JD crying upstairs and even Chris for a few seconds. “How about we talk up in the front of the house?” he suggested.

 

 

Evie placed JD and Vin in their cribs, both still not finished with their episodes. She was trying to figure out what to do with Ezra who had been trying to sleep with all the commotion. Gathering the sleepy child, she carried him and his little-worn blankie that he called his Whoopi out of the nursery. Vin and JD were known to cry for at least another hour when they got started.

She took him to the bedroom furthest from the nursery, Buck and Chris’s room. Since Ezra was a light sleeper when he first fell asleep, she thought it best to put him in here.

Buck was still sitting up talking to Chris who was propping himself up with one arm. When she entered, Buck scrambled under the covers.

“Chris, is it okay if Ezra sleeps in your bed tonight?”

“He isn’t gonna drool all over me and my pillow again, is he?” asked Chris with a pinched face, though he made room for the little boy to be set down beside him and curl into his favorite position to sleep.

“Drool isn't going to hurt you, but I'll bring in his pillow so you won't have to share yours,” Evie reassured.

"He's still just gonna sleep on mine," he pouted.

Ezra blinked tiredly between his mommy and his big brother. Two fingers were stuck in his mouth with his blankie rubbing his cheek.

"That just means he likes sleeping with you. Please, Chris. If not he can always just sleep with daddy and me."

Chris gave a little sigh and nodded, allowing his mother to tuck them in before kissing their heads and turning out the lights, leaving on just the night light. She only returned once to bring a pillow and slip it underneath Ezra's head.

Nathan and Josiah had already been asleep, heavy sleepers who never had any trouble with sleeping in the room next to the nursery. Josiah called it his ‘sleeping noise’ (white noise).

She smiled and gave them a kiss on their heads before leaving to go find her husband and their visitor downstairs.


	2. Grocery Trip

Grocery Trip

 

    The task of going grocery shopping together was probably one of the things Orrin and Evie still didn’t quite have a perfect routine set in.

After piling the boys into the big car, making sure all of them except Josiah was in their booster seat or car seat, they were ready to drive to Trader Joes.

The two youngest would sit closest to their parents while Chris and buck were separated by Josiah being between them, and so he could have leg room.

Ezra, not liking mornings, was half asleep already after breakfast.

Nathan who was sitting across from him with a marker, which was car window safe, to draw pictures to distract him. JD insisted on being allowed to have a snack while in the car, though he just finished breakfast. The two-year-old barely ate anything as was usually the case. Vin too didn’t eat much, spending more time pestering the others to play with him.

 

The first thing the young couple had to do was transport all seven children across the parking lot. Orrin decided to forgo the usual struggle and drop them off at the entrance, letting them all get out with their mother. Already hyper after leaving the house fifteen minutes ago, JD had to be carried. Vin’s hand was being held by both his mother and Chris. Josiah held onto Nathan and Ezra’s while Buck ran ahead to grab one of the kid shopping carts.

Orrin jogged to catch up to his family inside and of course found confrontation as soon as he entered.

Vin wanted to walk and not be in a shopping cart front seat. JD was already in his assumed seat, not pleased to not be able to run around. Buck was happily pushing his cart around the flower section, sometimes bumping into things. He cringed and quickly corralled his children together.

To make things go a little faster, Evie had the shopping list split in half for Orrin to take part of it, and some of the children. Trader Joes was never an easy place to shop because Buck always wanted to push his own little cart around. That meant they had to keep an eye on him since he liked to move fast with it, putting in items that weren’t on the list.

“Mommy, I wanna help!” Buck said loudly, pulling her hand down with the list in it.

“Okay honey, you can help get some of the items for mommy,” She tore part of her list off and handed it to the eager hands of the six-year-old, “You can get those items. Josiah can read them for you if you don’t know a word. Chris, Nathan, do you boys want to go with them?”

Chris nodded and Nathan just shrugged.

The little shoppers headed off, Buck taking the lead with the cart.

Evie smiled to Orrin who had picked up Ezra who had been leaning against his leg, silently asking to be carried.

 

 

Buck was able to read most of the things on the list, but what he couldn’t Josiah easily pointed out the item. Nathan and Chris were the runners, collecting the items and putting them in the cart. This went on for about eight minutes before Chris decided he wanted to push the cart, seeing how much fun Buck was having.

“It’s my turn,” he declared, trying to wedge his way behind the cart.

“No! It’s my cart. Stop it, Chris!” Buck wailed, pushing back with almost equal to of his older brother.

“You get to push it every time we come here. It’s not fair!”

“Get your own!”

“Mom says we can only have one at a time. Let go!”

“NO!” Buck shrieked, his voice getting higher.

Josiah, always trying to find a way to placate his squabbling siblings, especially the older ones since he thought they should be old enough to know better, he sought for a compromise.

“Buck, why not let Chris push the cart for a while? We can all take turns.”

Buck began to whine, stomping his feet and pouting his lips. He was getting close to a temper tantrum, but he stepped back to let Chris have a turn.

The little blond gave a content grin as he took his place. Josiah wasn’t sure if Chris really wanted to drive the cart or if he just wanted to mess with Buck who seemed to be really enjoying it.

They moved to where the salad was located. The list had a Ranch and Caesar dressing on it.

“It’s too high,” Nathan squinted up at the items they needed that were out of reach.

“Can I help find what you’re looking for?” asked a nice-looking lady who wore an employee shirt.

“We’re trying to get the Ranch and Caesar dress’n,” Nathan said, backing up a little to stand safely behind his older brother.

The lady reached up and retrieved the two bottles from a shelf and handed them to Josiah who thanked her.

“Stop it, Buck,” Chris said, pushing his brother back who was trying to take over the cart again.

“Your turn’s up,” the little boy declared.

“No, it’s not. I barely got to push it! We’ve been standing most of the time.”

“So, ain’t my fault you just stand around,” Buck said, still trying to regain his spot back.

“Stop it!” Chris said, growing frustrated.

He pushed Buck hard enough that he fell into the fresh vegetable section and on top of the goods. Buck was holding his head and was beginning to cry. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he started calling for his daddy.

“What did you do, Chris?” Josiah frowned at his little brother who was trying to act like nothing was happening.

“He wouldn’t stop. My turn isn’t over. And why should he get another turn? He pushed the cart the longest,” Chris said, dishing out his own frown to his older brother.

Josiah pulled Buck off the vegetables he had sat on just as Orrin was coming towards them.

“What happened?”

Buck immediately moved to his daddy limping, which was probably fake to gain sympathy, and continued to hold the back of his head, “Chris pushing me into that,” the little boy pointed to where an indentation of where a little bottom was recent.

“He was being a butt. It was my turn to push the cart and he kept trying to take it back!” Chris said, his voice getting louder in his defense. Knowing that he might be in for a spanking for hurting his brother when they got home.

“Christopher James, we don’t say those words and we certainly don’t hurt others. I thought you learned your lesson last night, but I guess you’ll need a longer timeout when we get back.

Chris began to stomp his feet angrily, hot tears burning his eyes.

“It’s not fair! Buck was the one who started! Ask ‘siah,” Chris looked to his brother pleadingly to support his case.

Josiah looked at Chris and then to his dad, “All Chris did was want to push the cart around for a while. We haven’t moved around the store much yet, but Buck started hassling Chris that his turn was over.”

“That’s not the point, Josiah. Though thank you for telling me. Chris should know better than to say bad words and from hurting his brother.”

Chris looked ready to do more damage to Buck as both were put into the main part of Orrin’s cart. Orrin told Josiah and Nathan to put all the items from the little shopper’s cart into the big one. The little cart would be returned up front and none of the children would be allowed to use them until they learned how to share.

He wasn’t sure what he was going to do with three wrapped things of kale, but he figured that could also be given as a punishment for the boys to eat as part of their dinner. He bagged the slightly smashed vegetable.

“Where’s Ezra?” asked Nathan, looking around to see if Ezra was on the other side of the cart or hiding on the bottom.

Orrin looked too.

“Ezra? Where are you buddy?” he called, getting worried.

 

 

Ezra had his eye on the food in front of him. He had been spotted once and ran away, but now he was back and trying to pull himself up to see what it was.

“Ezra,” Orrin said in relief, gaining the little boy’s attention, “Don’t go wandering off, you know the rules.”

“Daddy, I want one!” Ezra tried pointing at whatever he was smelling on the samples table, ignoring completely what his father had just said.

Ezra had a habit of eating things in the store; grapes, carrots, tomatoes, peaches, bananas, and peppers. Nothing was safe if it wasn’t properly packed in a sealed box. He also loved the samples in grocery stores, demanding to try everything.

Orrin sighed and looked at the samples. Ezra was trying to pull himself up to see too, his chin not even reaching when he was on his tiptoes. Chris and Buck had calmed down and inspected the samples as well.

“Alright, you each can have half,” he said as he split the meat dipped in sauce. He gave half to Ezra and then the other half to JD. He split the second sample and gave each to Buck and Chris and then a third for Nathan and Josiah. He picked up one and ate half, saving the rest for Vin, who he knew would fill upset at not being given one if the others breathed a word about it in his presence… which they would.

“Wait. Wait, daddy,” Ezra tugged on the end of Orrin’s shirt, “I want to try that one next.”

Orrin frowned at the second one, “Buddy, you wouldn’t like that.”

Ezra began to whine, moving to try and grab it himself if his daddy wouldn’t get it for him. Orrin carefully, but firmly grabbed his son’s little arms and pulled them away before he made a mess.

“Ezra, you don’t like anything with mayonnaise in it.”

“Please,” Ezra begged.

Orrin sighed, and picked up a sample. He gave Ezra the tiniest piece and ate the rest. Of course, knowing Ezra’s dislike for the white substance, the little boy was soon making a weird face. His daddy let him spit it back out into the plastic disposable cup it was served in and Orrin through it in the trash can.

“Can I have some water or juice?”

“You have your bottle in the car, bud.”

Ezra looked ready to stomp his foot and cross his arms, his usual way of showing his displeasure, but Orrin was just too tired to deal with it. He swept the five-year-old up and put him in the cart with the rest of them.

The cart was getting harder to push. He mused that he had more kids in his cart then groceries.

 

 

Evie decided to let Vin out of the cart and allow him to be her runner. Most of the time he came back with stuff he wanted. Stuff half the time he didn’t know what it even was. She would tell him to put it back, but Vin never took notice in the first place where he got it. After seeing a soup Vin had picked up was found by the spices, she had to stop and show the three-year-old where things went back.

This process continued, and they spent more time trying to figure where things went back then they did getting items on their list.

“Mama, look,” Vin pointed where fudge pops were behind a glass door holding in the cold temperature.

“We’re not getting those today, sweetie,” Evie said, taking his hand before he tried to find some way to open the door.

“Noooo! Please, mama,” Vin begged, dropping all of his weight to the floor.

“No, I already said we aren’t getting those this time.”

Vin had successfully slipped from his mother’s grasp and dashed back down the aisle before turning around.

“Vincent Taylor, you better march your behind right back over here, young mister,” Evie had her hands on her hips and her full mom-disciplinary mode on.

Vin, however, was always the one to push the limits, though no one would expect it from him at first meeting.

He tugged off his shirt and whipped it to the ground, “I want fudge!” He yelled.

The three-year-old continued his disrobing, having figured he had walked far enough away that he’d have time to do so. When his mom started storming towards him, he changed tactics and dropped to the tiled floor, sweeping it with his body as he screamed at the top of his lungs.

A minute passed and for some reason, his mother hadn’t pulled him up off the floor yet. He opened his eyes and looked around to find her no longer in the aisle. Neither was the cart.

“Mama?” He said, wiping the forced tears from his face. Looking behind him, he saw strangers just looking at him. Scared, he picked himself up quickly and grabbed his clothes, running away to find his mom. She, of course, was waiting for him around the corner.

Her son ran into her arms and she picked him up and settled him on her hip. She pinched his nose, “No more of that, understand?”

Vin only stuck his thumb in his mouth and rested his head on his mommy’s shoulder. His other hand he used the back of it to try and push his long hair from his face.

 

 

Chris, Buck, and Ezra helped to load the counter where the cashier was to scan the items. Since they were already sitting in the cart they made themselves useful. Nathan and Josiah helped their mom with her cart.

JD, having been the only one somehow to have behaved besides Josiah and Nathan, received a gold sticker for the chart at home.

JD had few stars for the good behavior chart in the ‘shopping’ section.

Vin and Ezra were no surprise; Vin always throwing tantrums when he can’t have something he wants, Ezra always eating unbought food. Chris and Buck had both seen better outings, and the parents weren’t convinced that banning the little shopper’s cart for a few trips was going to make things better between the youngsters.


	3. Time Outs

Time Outs

   

The Travis’s had a rule that if you had been a bad boy then you’d have to sit in time out. If it was an extreme case, then they would be excluded from an event and made to go to bed early.

Chris sat in his time out chair, looking miserable. His head was against the wall as he pouted. Every ten seconds he’d shift into a new position and then slouch. The occasional whimper would leave his lips, but he knew to stay in his seat. He had been given a twenty-minute time out and was to sit in the extra chair in the dining room in the corner. Wiping his hands over his face, he whined again, kicking his legs out in frustration, but not having anything to connect it with.

Outside he could hear, but from his angle in the room, he couldn’t see, Nathan and Josiah outside playing in the backyard. It sounded like they were on the trampoline.

Shifting in his seat again, he called for his mom, “Mom, can I get up now?”

There was no answer. He knew that he was to wait until she came to get him, but whenever he had a long sentence, it felt like she may have just forgotten about him and that she needed a reminder.

“Mom!” Chris called louder so that there was no way she couldn’t hear him.

 

In another part of the house, Buck was serving out his shorter sentence of fifteen minutes. He sat on his time out chair, legs pulled up and head down. He had been crying since he had been placed there, declaring it was not fair and that he didn’t do anything wrong. His spot was in his parent’s bedroom. His dad was in the next room over, but he wasn’t allowed to ask him for an early release.

 

Vin’s time out was in the same room as his mother in the kitchen. He was confined to his highchair where he continued to cry and ask to be released. He only had a seven-minute time out, but because the boy had no sense of time, it felt like an eternity.

 

Since Chris was put in time out first, he was allowed to get up before the others. He was made to apologize to Buck for pushing him and then Vin for smacking him last night. Chris was told to hug his brothers and then after being told why he was put in time out and how what he did was harmful, he then apologized to his mom, received a kiss from her and then was allowed to play. Buck and Vin followed soon after with similar lectures.

In the front room JD and Ezra were watching cartoons, or rather Ezra was watching cartoons, one hand keeping his Whoopi up against his cheek while the other hand had two fingers in his mouth. JD was wandering around the room playing blocks by himself. Vin claimed a seat next to Ezra and picked up the remote, wanting something else on TV, but not really sure how it worked.

Ezra’s Phineas and Ferb suddenly disappeared and became angry. He roughly snatched the remote from Vin’s hands and changed it back to what he had been watching. Vin began crying and reached across Ezra to get the remote back.

“Stop it! Mom, Vin’s messing with the remote!” Ezra accused, having pulled his fingers from his mouth.

Vin and JD weren’t allowed to play with the remotes and Ezra was using that to his advantage.

JD watched in alarm as his brothers each began to get upset. Vin sitting on his legs, bouncing in his spot, crying, “I wanna watch Gumball!”

Evie walked into the room to see both boys arguing.

“Vincent, your brother was watching his show first. Why don’t you sit down and watch the rest of his and then he can put on a Gumball episode afterward."

“But mom,” Ezra whined, “Gumball is stupid.”

“Ezra, we don’t use that word. If you boys can’t share we can turn off the TV and play something else. You can go outside with the others.”

Ezra began to whine, sticking out his bottom lip, “Fine, I don’t wanna watch TV anyway.”

He threw the remote on the couch, nearly hitting Vin.

“Ezra Patrick,” Evie began, but Ezra was on the run to avoid getting in trouble.

“Mommy, I want Gumball!” Vin reminded her before she could give chase to Ezra.

She switched the channels to find him an episode and then went after her other son.

 

 

Chris was enjoying the freedom that was the outdoors until he ran inside to get something from his room.

Taking the stairs as fast as his short legs would let him, Chris was almost out of breath by the time he reached his room. Looking in his toy bin, he tried to find the plastic baseball and bat he had tucked away.

A noise beyond his racket made him pause what he was doing and listen.

He heard a sneeze again and then moved towards the source automatically. Getting on all fours, Chris lifted the covers of his bed to see underneath his bed.

“Ezra, why are you hiding?” Chris held out his hand for his little brother to take.

A partially wet hand took his and Ezra crawled from underneath the bed, his Whoopi following him.

“Mommy is looking for me,” Ezra sniffed, wiping his wet face with the back of his hand.

Chris used the hand that wasn’t holding his brother’s slobbery hand to try smoothing the disheveled hair on the small boy’s head.

“Did you do something you weren’t supposed to?”

Ezra nodded numbly.

“Want me to talk to her with you?”

Ezra nodded again with a loud sniff.

Chris was used to Ezra hiding under his bed whenever a punishment was coming his way. Ironically, he was just putting himself in timeout with his parents having to do so.

The thought of sitting in a chair was not appealing to the five-year-old, but he’d hide for up to a half an hour to avoid it. Since Josiah was old enough to know right from wrong, he was getting to the stage where instead of timeouts he had whoopings. No doubt Ezra was thinking that if he did something really bad then he’d get a whooping.

Chris never gave away Ezra’s hiding place location but would walk him downstairs and stand with him.

 

Evie sighed, mostly in relief that Ezra had been found. Again, it would seem he was found by Chris. Really, she should just call Chris to get Ezra whenever he ran off but decided that whatever the boys talked about seemed to calm Ezra down.

“Ezra, do you want to say something?” asked Chris, prompting the other boy to begin.

“I’m sorry mommy,” Ezra dipped his head, looking at his socked feet.

“Do you know what you did wrong?” asked Chris again, leading the conversation.

“I threw the remote and said a bad word.”

“Do you know why you aren’t supposed to be throwing the remote?”

“It’s not a toy,” Ezra sniffed, finally looking up to see how his mom was reacting. Evie was doing her best not to smile or laugh as her seven-year-old led the talk. “And I almost hit Vin.”

“Why don’t you go and apologize to Vin,” Chris suggested, releasing Ezra’s hand so he could do so.

Ezra hurried to the room he had vacated earlier. Vin’s eyes never left the TV as Ezra apologized and gave his younger brother a hug before going back to stand by Chris.

“Do I… Do I have to go to timeout still?” he asked hesitantly.

Evie couldn’t tell if he was asking more so Chris or her, “No, so as long as you don’t do that again. I think you’ve been in timeout long enough. Why don’t you wash up for dinner. Chris, can you tell everyone else it’s time for dinner?”

The boys moved into action and about ten minutes later everyone’s hands were washed, and they were all seated around the table with a parent on either end of the table. Vin and JD’s highchairs were stationed near one of their parents while the other boys filled in the space between.

“Mommy, what’s this?” Buck scrunched his nose at the bowl of leafy things sitting in front of just Chris and him.

“Daddy told me about what happened at Trader Joe’s today. You and Chris will eat the kale you squashed at the store when the two of you fought.”

“Do we still get dessert?” asked Chris, leaning forward in his seat.

“If you finish your salad in time you can still have dessert.”

Chris made a disgusted face at the leafy food, but as soon as their food was prayed for, he stuffed his face with the kale first. He was determined not to miss dessert, and the only way to prevent that from happening was to get the yucky food over with first.

Buck looked ready to throw a fit, but he ate the kale. Slowly.


	4. Travis Family

The Travis Family

   

When Orrin and Evie first got married, their plan was to have a lot of children to fill their backyard and shower them with love. They had married right after Orrin’s graduation from college, and for a year they tried to start a family. Evie never got pregnant until after her graduation the following year of her husband’s. The young couple was so excited and began planning for their new addition. Friends of theirs from college were also looking forward to their first child as well. Both couples spent many days together and the expecting mothers would talk about names and guess the gender of the unborn babies.

    Tragedy struck the Travis’s when Evie gave birth to a stillborn. She cried for days afterward, not wanting to eat anything. It had been a boy. She and Orrin had been planning on naming the baby Stephen. Sometimes, Orrin would see his wife in the little room they had made up as the nursery. She would be sitting in the rocking chair with a little-stuffed animal or sometimes be holding the tiny onesies

    Their friends had given birth to a healthy baby boy the following month. Orrin could see that when Evie saw the happy boy in her friends’ arms, she couldn’t help feeling the loss of her own child.

Orrin and Evie had been named godparents of baby Josiah. Ruth and Carlos Sanchez were missionaries and often traveled. They had made a will that if anything should happen to them, the Travis would become the legal guardians of Josiah. Ruth always saw the smile that lit up her friend’s face when she held Josiah who would grab with tiny hands at her neckless. She couldn’t see anyone else caring for her son better.

    The dangers of preaching over in Iran which were in a middle of a revolution brought home the sad news to Orrin. Ruth and Carlos had been taken as prisoners with several of the other missionaries and had been declared missing for weeks. Almost a month later, their bodies were discovered with some of the natives of that country. Older men and women and children were also discovered dead.

    The four friends had been so close for so long that it was devastating to hear the dreaded news. Josiah had only been three at the time. He didn’t really understand all of what was going on. Though Evie and Orrin tried to preserve the memory of their friends in the boy’s memory. The three-year-old just couldn’t understand. He spent a lot of time with his godparents that he had started to call them mommy and daddy.

    The only thing they could do was wait to explain it to him when he was older when he could understand.

Chris had been an open adoption. Orrin and Evie decided that instead of going through the experience of getting pregnant again, that they would be better suited to adopt. Josiah would benefit from having a playmate as well.

Sarah Conley and Adam Larabee were young teenagers who found themselves in a family way after a school party. Sarah grew up in the same church that the Travis family attended. Not wanting to go through an abortion, she decided to give up the baby and found Orrin and Evie happy to adopt their baby.

Chris was a loud baby and cried constantly at night, waking up the whole house.

Orrin had turned his head to look at his wife who had woken up too from the powerful lungs crying in the other room.

“Are you happy?” he teased with a smile.

She smacked him playfully on the arm, “So much so, I don’t see why we still can’t have our dream.”

“You mean you want more?” Orrin asked incredulously.

Nathan was a normal adoption without much knowledge of the parents who died in a house break-in. Nathan was only eight months old at the time. He was a happy baby, doted on by Josiah who took an immediate liking to the new addition and his tiny afro.

Evie would laugh thinking how she had negotiated with her eldest just to take care of changing Nathan’s diapers. Josiah was constantly wanting to hold him.

Bucklin was unnamed when they adopted him. The mother, who tragically looked like she didn’t even have her driver’s license yet, had died from what looked like an overdose. Thankfully the doctors said it looked like she had been clean for the duration of the pregnancy and that the boy was healthy. Orrin and Evie both thought Chris would try to bond with his new baby brother like Josiah did with Nathan when he first arrived, but the one-year-old seemed to be put off by the loud crying and constant drool. Chris, once he wasn’t in his teething phase, was much quieter, and preferred the quiet than the chaos of crying infants.

Ezra was three-years-old when he was adopted by the Travis family. His mother had been found negligent by the court and had several other crimes she was being charged with along with her partner. The little boy had no family members willing to take him in. Orrin had been one of the arresting officers and had taken an instant liking to the little boy who looked so sad. He didn’t do anything for the longest except sit in his seat until told to do otherwise. There were a few bruises on him from strong hands grabbing him. Getting Ezra to open up and be a three-year-old took a lot of patience.

Orrin had an idea, though he had to ask his wife what she thought of adopting another child. She absolutely loved Ezra when she came into the station to meet him. He was polite even at three but didn’t say much.

“Why don’t we try introducing him to one of the boys, so he’ll be more comfortable?” suggested Orrin.

“I think Chris would be perfect,” Evie said. Chris was now five and understood things a little better. He understood now that he was an older brother and needed to protect his younger siblings. Though Buck constantly got on his nerves, he did try. He just needed someone who wasn’t going to try his patience while he learned.

Chris was excited to have a new brother, one it would seem was quiet like him. His legs swung out, kicking the passenger seat in front of him as he looked out the van window, on his way to meet him.

Evie was curious as to why Chris had brought his baby blanket with him. Blankie never left Chris’s bed. Ever!

The adults introduced the two children and stood a little way back to let them try and talk.

Chris kept his blankie secreted away behind his back as he looked Ezra over as if checking him out. Ezra’s head remained lowered, looking at his feet.

The five-year-old grinned and suddenly wrapped his arms around the little boy, “You’ll do! Mommy, I wanna keep him!”

Chris pulled back long enough to wrap his blankie around Ezra and then pulled, or rather drag, Ezra to a place where he could sit down with him.

Ezra’s eyes were big as saucers as he just let the other boy steer him around. Chris had asked his mom to bring some of his toys with him just in case he could play with the boy. He showed Ezra each toy and how he’d play with them. Ezra watched with rapt attention but flinched slightly away when Chris tried to hand him one of his action figures.

“It’s okay, baby. You play with these okay. Just do what I do,” Chris said.

Evie wondered if she should tell Chris that Ezra wasn’t exactly a baby but a toddler. That if he was a baby, handing him stuff that he could potentially stick in his mouth and choke on would’ve eliminated over half of the things Chris brought.

Chris was throwing his first tantrum when Orrin said Ezra couldn’t come home with him. He stomped his foot hard on the ground, balled his fist and screamed for the first time since he was a baby. He wrapped his arms tightly around Ezra, not willing to let him go.

“I want him! He’s mine! I won’t leave if he’s not coming!” Chris said determinedly.

Orrin bent down and patted both boys’ heads.

“Don’t worry Chris, we’ll do what we can to bring Ezra home, but until then you have to be patient. Okay, bud?”

“No! Now! I’m not leaving him here! He’ll cry if he’s alone. The bad people might hurt him,” Chris stomped his foot again.

Orrin rose an eyebrow, “What do you mean hurt him?”

Sighing loudly as if his daddy was asking a dumb question and should already know, Chris showed him what he found earlier. Without asking first, Chris lifted the three-year-old’s shirt up to reveal more bruises on his back. He even pulled the boy’s pants down and diaper. More bruises.

Ezra began to panic and cry. Chris pulled the boy’s clothes up and then held him tighter.

“No one is going to hurt little Ezra here, Chris. He’s going to be just fine,” Orrin reassured, already thinking about what he would need to do with what his son just discovered while the adults seemed to have missed.

Peeling Chris away from Ezra was heartbreaking to do and witness, though it was only a temporary goodbye. Ezra tried to give the blankie back that was still wrapped around him. Chris only put it back on him.

“This is yours. It’s my promise that I’ll be there for you as your big brother,” Chris smiled.

 

Mom and son went back to visit almost every day to see Ezra, and their bond grew. Chris was more than willing to share information about his brothers. The rest of the boys were introduced later, and almost a month later, they were able to take Ezra home.

The first couple of nights were a hard transition for the boy, to be surrounded by constant noise and children. He stuck close to Chris, carrying the blankie around, which turned into his Whoopi.

At night, Ezra would sleep in the nursery with Buck and Nathan. He’d climb out of his cradle and sneak into Chris and Josiah’s room, crawling into bed with Chris.

Chris wouldn’t be fazed by it but pulled the little boy close to him.

When Ezra had his first nightmare from his past, he accidentally wet Chris’s bed. Orrin and Evie didn’t understand why Ezra was in diapers when they first met him. Apparently, the three-year-old hadn’t been potty-trained correctly and would still have problems. The bruises on his bottom must’ve been punishments because of his accidents. Ezra panicked the first time and crawled under Chris’s bed. Chris had been annoyed and disgusted at being woken up to pee all over him, but he didn’t hurt Ezra because of it. He just peeked his head under the bed and talked the little boy into coming out, promising him that no one would be allowed to hurt him, not even his parents.

“I won’t let them,” Chris promised.

Ezra clutched his Whoopi in one hand and Chris’s hand in the other as they walked to their parents’ bedroom to explain what happened.

The boys were given a bath and the covers changed and mattress washed. The boys slept in their parents’ bed between them.

Evie spent the next few days ensuring Ezra was on a potty schedule to prevent accidents and offered little awards when he went by himself. His confidence began to grow, and he was no longer silent and shy. Evie wondered how Chris would react, to know the silent little boy he fell in love with was now giggling in a high pitch and goofing off more. Chris, however, didn’t stop playing with Ezra though. He seemed delighted to be the cause of the three-year-old’s laughter, and often tried to make him smile.

It seemed that Ezra was the one to make Chris more sociable.

 

Vin and JD followed a couple years after, and like Josiah, Buck and Nathan’s parents, they were dead. Both were open adoptions. Adopted as infants and knew no other love than the love from their mommy and daddy who were Evie and Orrin. Both of the biological mothers were teenagers who were about to get abortions but decided to carry the babies to full term or at least intended to. Janie Dunne had been a raped victim. She ran away from home after her parents wanted nothing to do with her, not believing her story. She was close to ending her life when she met Evie and was introduced to the church. Missy Richardson had gotten married right after high school to her sweetheart. He had been a couple years older, waiting for them both to be legal adults in the state they lived in. He had enlisted in the rangers. He was killed on duty about a month ahead of time Vin was to be born. Complications began when she went into labor early due to stress. Vin was a premature baby and was in NICU for the first two months of his life. He fought for his life as best as he could, but he had no one there to cheer him on until the Travis couple. Missy was too distraught with her loss and wanted to give up the baby. With his medical bills piling up because of his early delivery, she said she wasn’t in a position in her life to take care of a baby alone with no job.

Chris again was interested in one of the new additions. Vin was so tiny that Chris would go around finding places the baby could fit in. Evie had to stop him when she saw him put Vin inside the dresser about to close it. Besides his fascination with not seeing such a tiny baby before, Chris found he enjoyed being an older brother, now that he thought he succeeded with Ezra.

That resolve and confidence lasted about a week before Chris was tired of crying infants. He retreated outside.

JD was Buck’s favorite. He was a plump baby with jet black straight hair that stood on end, who loved to laugh. Buck, now four and thinking he was alright not being the youngest since ‘the invasion of Ezra’ as he no doubt thought it at the time. He loved playing especially with the baby’s chubby cheeks.

“Are you happy?” asked Orrin a couple of years later, right after putting Vin and JD to bed. They had requested several bedtime stories to be read to them.

“Yes. Thank you,” she kissed him on the lips as he got under the covers.

“What for?”

“For helping to make my wish come true.”

“Our wish. Anything you desire is what I inspire to achieve,” he kissed her this time.

“How did I ever get so lucky to end up marrying such a great man?”

“I think, it was me who is the lucky one. I never thought you’d settle for a guy like me,” Orrin gave a toothy grin.

“A guy like you huh?” Evie kissed him again.

“Yeah,” they rolled over in bed, laughing like newlyweds.


	5. Sick Days

Sick Days

 

“You sure you’re gonna be fine?” asked Orrin from the front door.

“Yeah. I don’t want them catching what’s going around,” Evie said as she smiled sadly at Vin and JD who were bundled up ready to go to work with daddy and then stay at his sister’s house while the other boys got better.

Orrin kissed his wife’s cheek and told the little ones to say goodbye. Evie watched them get settled into the car and back out of the driveway before shutting the door.

“Mommy!” came the croaky voice of Buck. He had come downstairs and was standing on the bottom step. He was still in his PJs with one pants leg slightly up his calf. His dark hair was sticking out in different directions and he had a red nose.

“I’m coming, honey.”

She picked him up and settled him on her hip, carrying him back upstairs to where the other sick boys were still in bed.

Buck and Ezra thankfully just had a slight fever, though it plugged up their noses one day and then was runny the next. Buck would report that his throat was sore while Ezra didn’t have much of an appetite.

Chris and Josiah had the stomach flu and both boys had cases of cramps, headaches, and nausea. Chris was always a cranky patient when he was sick, was even more so than normal. He stayed curled up in a ball, not wanting to move until he needed his mommy.

Buck and Ezra were told to stay clear of Chris and let him sleep when he could.

Nathan, always mommy’s little helper would help fetch things from downstairs or a comic for his brothers to read. He opted to not go to work with daddy and then his aunt’s house but wanted to help. Josiah was more willing to let Nathan help him rather than Chris who would lash out.

Evie was grateful for the help of monitoring the sick ones while trying to fix them up something they could eat that wouldn’t upset their stomachs.

“Mommy!” Nathan came running into the kitchen. He was wearing his little helper’s clothes. One of his dad’s old dress shirts that wouldn’t fit him anymore. Evie fashioned it after making many adjustments, into a little doctor or chef’s coat since Nathan liked to help with both. He had his toy stethoscope around his neck, his arms and legs barely visible under the big shirt. “Chris got up. He’s going to the bathroom,” he made his report.

“Thank you, dear. Can you watch this soup for me and prepare the bowls?” Evie pulled up a chair and picked up her son to set up at his station. He was good at being careful and she had turned it off to cool a couple minutes ago. Letting him scoop it out into the bowls would keep him distracted while she checked on Chris.

Just as she feared, Chris had diarrhea.

“Alright baby?” she asked, cupping his face in her hands.

“I’m fine, my stomach just hurts a lot.”

Only when he was sick, did Chris allow himself to be mom’s little baby again. It was a mix of not liking the fussing over him, but still wanting the attention. With Vin and JD both gone and him being sick, it meant that he would get more of his mother’s attention.

Evie was keeping track of the change in the symptoms and how long they lasted. Keeping the boys hydrated wasn’t nearly as difficult as it was to get Buck to take his medicine. He’d fight against taking it for ten minutes before he finally took it, making the whole thing take longer.

“It tastes yucky!” Buck whined.

“Well if you drink it all at once then you could enjoy your orange juice, love.”

Buck pulled a face but did his best to drink it all down.

Ezra gave a giggle that was almost like a little girl’s as he watched Buck act all dramatic like he was dying from the terrible cherry flavored medicine syrup.

“You’re next, young mister,” Evie said as she got another little medicine cup to measure out Ezra’s cough syrup.

Of course, Ezra didn’t fare much better than his older brother. He actually ran away from it. Buck was more than willing to drag the jailbird back to mommy, Ezra protesting the whole time.

Nathan, without needing to be asked, began carrying bowls of soup up the stairs. He was so focused as he entered Buck and Chris’s room with a bowl, gave it to Buck and then ran back to get two more.

Evie went downstairs to help him.

Midday Evie let the boys who wanted to, to go outside and get some fresh air while she changed sheets and cleaned off surfaces. There was a movie night after dinner which was tomato soup and grilled cheese. They watched Finding Nemo. All of the boys except for Ezra, who never could predict the line, would say on queue, “Fish are friends, not food.” They’d all laugh after that until they settled down again and watched the movie again. Baths were taken to clean them up and then Evie put Vix Vapor Rub on the chest of Buck and Ezra to help clear up their sinuses. A warm bean bag was placed near the stomach of Chris and Josiah to sooth their cramps.

Nathan climbed into bed with his mom, finally taking off his little helper’s uniform.

“Thank you for the help today,” she kissed the top of his head.

“You’re welcome,” Nathan smiled up at her.

Opening up a storybook, Evie read to her son until he fell asleep.


	6. Mother's Day

Mother’s Day

 

“Are you absolutely sure?” Orrin repeated his question as he balanced a sleepy JD on his hip while his wife held the knocked-out Vin in her arms.

“Yes,” she chuckled, “Why does that astonish you?”

“I just figured that you’d want to take this opportunity to have some time to yourself while I watch the boys,” Orrin shrugged.

“That’s thoughtful, honey, but I think we both know you wouldn’t be able to survive that.”

They both softly laughed as they entered the nursery to put the toddlers to bed. Ezra was already tucked under his covers and out like a light. His two fingers were firmly in his mouth with his Whoopi against his cheek.

They saw to their youngest before kissing the top of Ezra’s head and leaving the room with the door left ajar. After checking the other two rooms to make sure the rest of the boys were asleep, the young parents made their way to their room to prepare for bed.

“If that’s what you want, then, of course, I’ll make it happen,” Orrin said, climbing into his side of the bed.

“You make it sound like one of your missions,” Evie chuckled, “I simply wish to spend time with my boys. They won’t be boys forever.”

“It is my mission to make you happy, and it’s my honor,” he kissed her.

 

 

While Evie went out to ‘run an errand’ Orrin sat down with the boys to plan Mother’s Day.

“So, the plan is boys, that we’re going to do like a date with mom. You’ll each pick out what you want to do with mom for the day. We’ll start off with a family picture and then the dates. Since Vin and JD are still too young to participate, it will be Ezra, Buck, Nathan, Chris, and Josiah.”

“I wanna take mom out for breakfast!” Nathan rose his hand eagerly.

Chris’s head snapped towards his younger brother and scowled, “You can’t take the whole of breakfast!”

“I just did,” Nathan stuck his tongue out at his older brother.

“Okay, Nathan is doing a breakfast out with mom. What are the rest of you thinking?”

“Mom likes to go for walks,” Josiah smiled, “We can watch the sunset together!”

“How about we do that as a family at the end. Good idea, bud.”

“I want to take mom out to get those smelling good stuff at that one store!” Buck said, “I always like it when she wears those.”

“Bath and Body Works? Good one. Okay, Chris? Ezra?”

Chris frowned in contemplation. He hated trying to come up with gifts. It was never his strong suit. Most of the time he’d ask his mom for ideas.

 _At least Ezra seems to be in the same boat as me_. His younger brothers seem to be trying to show him up this year. It annoyed him slightly.

“I can do a song for mommy,” Ezra volunteered.

Chris’s mouth dropped open. Ezra had betrayed him.

“That’s a great idea, Ezra. What about you, Chris?”

Chris hated everyone’s eyes on him and he hunched his shoulders and stared at his hands in thought.

“Can I take her to the movies?” he mumbled.

“Well, the idea is to get everyone some time with mom. If you take her to see a movie that would take up several hours.”

Chris began to fidget nervously. He wasn’t good at singing, or at least he hated it. He hadn’t bothered to save any of his allowances in his ‘presents envelope’ and Josiah had already taken the walking idea.

Biting his bottom lip, Chris clasped his hands together and thought hard. His eyes flickered to the backyard window where he saw…

That’s it!

 

 

Orrin was already feeling his patience tried as he continued to finish getting the boys all dressed in their picture clothes.

“I don’t want to wear this shirt. Can’t I put on something else?” Chris pleaded.

“It’s only for a picture, buddy. Then you can change. Can you please help me finish getting the others dressed?”

Chris shuffled away, grumbling as he made his way down the hall.

Buck too wasn’t pleased with his outfit, “I feel like I’m going to church,” he whined.

“It does feel like it’s Easter all over again,” Nathan mumbled.

Orrin gathered up his children and inspected them one last time.

The boys were all wearing white dress shirts with short sleeves for the five youngest. Chris and Josiah had long sleeves. The had on khaki shorts for Ezra, Nathan, and Buck. Vin and JD had on little khaki overalls while Chris and Josiah had on full-length pants. Josiah had a navy tie, Chris, and bow tie that he immediately ripped off, Ezra eagerly accepted the discarded accessory. Ezra had on little suspenders and Chris took up a navy suit jacket instead. Buck and Nathan had matching Newsie looking caps and they were all wearing their white converses that were not to be used for playing under no circumstances.

They waited outside of the master bedroom while Orrin, dressed in his own navy suit jacket, white dress shirt, tie and khaki pants, entered. He kissed his wife and she smiled with her eyes still closed.

“Happy Mother’s Day, love.”

Evie opened her eyes and her smile grew, “Well don’t you look handsome, Mr. Travis.”

“Why thank you, Mrs. Travis. I have my wife to thank for helping to prevent ugly ties and clashing colors. The boys are waiting outside for you. Should I call them in?”

“Of course.”

 

The boys all entered in order of birth with the exception of JD and Vin who were holding the hands of the two eldest. They scrambled up onto the bed and each gave her a kiss, wishing her a happy Mother’s Day, though two of them didn’t know exactly what they were saying or what it meant but were just following along with what the others were doing.

“The boys each thought of a date they want to take you out on today, but first, I thought we could do a family picture.”

“That sounds great, let me get dressed first,” Evie beamed as she laughed, watching the boys bounce from off the bed to get out the room. She came downstairs wearing a white dress that Orrin could’ve sworn was even more stunning than the wedding dress he saw her in on their wedding day, though this was a much simpler gown.

 

The picture was blessedly short for those who were eager to change.

The first photo was just the boys all on the couch together. The oldest on the ends with JD in the middle. The second picture, the camera was on a timer. JD and Vin were on one of their parent’s lap while Buck and Nathan were sitting up front, Josiah and Chris leaning in on the arms of the couch and Ezra in the middle.

The boys all ran upstairs to change, all except Vin, JD, and Ezra.

Nathan came back down and invited his mom to go out for breakfast and the two of them soon left after Evie was sure Orrin could take care of the other boys on his own.

 

Nathan chose a non-big food chain place to dine at. He was excited that he was the one to ask the hostess for a place for two, and he did his best to push in his mom’s seat after pulling it out for her.

“Thank you, Nathan,” Evie smiled at her wonderful son, her little helper.

She remembered watching him grow up. The cutest little baby that hardly cried like Chris and Buck had. He was always the calm one who hardly ever got into trouble. Every night before going to bed and every morning she woke up, she would thank God for her sons. From going from losing a son and despairing on never having any more or having the will to try to, she gained seven wonderful, beautiful boys. None of them may share her blood, but they were her boys, and she loved each and everyone one of them.

Of late, Nathan had been fascinated with cameras and recording stuff. Josiah and he would record stories they did with their action figures and share them with the younger boys to watch. Nathan pulled out the camera.

“I thought you could record your Mother’s Day, mom. So you’ll always remember,” Nathan grinned as he pushed play, “What would you like to say to your future self who will be seeing this?”

Evie chuckled, “Well, I would like to say that Evie, you are blessed to have such a wonderful family and that when you thought you’ll never be surprised, they will do something that will melt your heart. Would you like to say something, Nathan?”

Nathan handed the camera over to his mom, so she was now recording.

“I would like to say…” he hummed as he thought, “I have the best mom I could ever ask for, and I’m glad I get to spend time with her today and show her that.” Nathan grinned, showing his two missing baby teeth.

 

Next up was Buck who eagerly took over the camera from his brother when they returned home from their date.

Buck’s eyes were big as he gawked at the hundreds of bottles of lotions, sprays and hand sanitizers in the room. Evie smiled as she caught it on film.

“Did you have a particular one you like, Bucky dear?”

Buck ran both of his hands through his long hair as he spun around in a circle, “There’s too many. I don’t know what they all smell like.”

“Would you like to try some with me to find the right one?” she asked.

Buck grinned and nodded eagerly.

Evie always loved her son’s never-ending positivity, though of course, she wasn’t including the times when he was upset when he was in trouble or when he was crying because he got hurt. Buck was generally a happy child, always eager to find enjoyment in the next big thing. The one thing she figured that was only a temporary dislike, was his avoidance of girls. He firmly believed in cooties. So, did Chris and Nathan. Buck, however, had a curiosity about girls though he avoided them like the plague. He’d watch them like a foreign species, and would no doubt be over that awkward phase sooner than his brothers.

For now, though, he kept his distance while he tested the different lotions and holding up the ones he approved of for his mommy to smell. His short arms were now smelling of eight difference aromas as he proudly bought ‘the perfect one’ for his mommy, presenting his money for the cashier who smiled down at her little customer.

All the moms in the shops with their daughters were all taken with Buck and Evie knew, her son was definitely going to be getting all the ladies when he gets older.

 

Back at home, Ezra was fretting over his decision to sing a song.

“Chris, I don’t have a song!” Ezra wailed. This was Ezra’s first time participating in Mother’s Day since he was finally old enough. This apparently made him extremely nervous.

Chris sat in the dirt, his legs and hands filthy.

“Why did you choose to sing then?”

“I dunno,” Ezra mumbled, dipping his head. Suddenly he began to panic, “What if she doesn’t like it? What if I have to go and live with Aunt Deborah because of it?”

Chris rose an eyebrow, “Why would she do that?”

“Because she’d hate my gift and I’m useless,” Ezra sniffed.

Chris straightened and pushed himself up from the dirt he had been messing with. He bent down in front of the five-year-old.

“Ezra, mom isn’t going to give you away for nothing. Anything you give her she will love for sure. Even if you don’t give her anything, she’s going to love you and nothing’s going to change that. We’re family and we stay together. Always.”

Ezra nodded and sniffed, “But I still don’t have a song.”

Chris smiled and stood back up to his full height which was seven inches taller than the other boy.

“Well then, let’s go and find you a song.”

 

“I can’t learn this in time!” Ezra pouted and crossed his arms, holding off tears which were threatening to fall.

“Well…” Chris thought, looking at the lyrics of the song, “How about you dance to the song and…maybe we can get everyone else to do it with you.”

“Will you do it too?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay then,” Ezra agreed, uncrossing his arms and wiping his eyes.

The boys got in position with Ezra in front. Evie Sat on the couch with Orrin recording as the music was started by Josiah.

The Meghan Trainor ‘Mom’ started playing and Ezra did his best to sing and dance along. After a while, it was clear he was getting embarrassed and didn’t want to do it anymore. He started shrinking back to the same line as his brothers. Chris held onto Ezra’s wrist and began moving him around. Josiah, Buck, and Nathan joined in, making one long stretched out arms length. They made explosion motions with their arms and hearts with their hands.

After a while, Ezra began to get more confident to be on his own but still stayed by his brothers. He was laughing as he bounced around in a circle with Buck and made explosions with him. Nathan and Josiah helped him form a big heart with their arms connected. At the end of the song, they climbed on the couch and gave their mom a hug. Evie gave each of them a kiss and gave them a tight hug.

They were all laughing and wanting to see the recording of it.

Evie didn’t know Ezra when he was born, or the beginning part of his three years of existence, but she was happy and proud when he started calling her ‘mommy’. Slowly but surely, he was building his confidence among his brothers and gaining self-esteem. No child should have to worry about such a thing, but the poor boy had been tossed to so many relatives and friends of his mother’s homes so much, that it had taken a toll on him.

Seeing Ezra grow was something Evie considered a privilege. Giving him the love and family, he deserved.

 

Chris waited patiently outside for his mom to change clothes to join him outside. He had spent the time his brothers were with mom to dig up the dirt to prepare. Now Chris stood ready with nine Daffodils ready to be planted.

“Are we doing some gardening, Chris?” she smiled at her seven-year-old who was beaming up at her. He was already dirty again after washing up for the dance.

“Yep. I figured since you like flowers and gardening, that we could plant some. Dad said these come back each year and that it’s called Pre…prenatal? Preanal? Pre-something.”

“Perennials,” Evie corrected with a smile playing on her lips.

“Yeah that,” Chris nodded, “I got nine to represent each of us in our family.”

“Shall we get started?”

Chris eagerly dug with his hands, letting mommy use the ‘little shovel’ so as not to get too dirty.

They planted each one, making sure that each had enough room and then was watered.

Evie was so grateful for a son like Chris. Though Nathan would eagerly volunteer to help out and always be her little helper, Chris was her first little helper. He still did help around, watching Vin and JD. Finding Ezra in his secret hiding place and is always patient. He was a sweet boy who had good intentions, though he wasn’t always eloquent in expressing them. There were the rare occasions where he needed to assert his ‘dominance’ over the younger boys, but that usually came out of his need for attention. Again, where he wasn’t good at expressing his feelings.

“Chris, honey. Do you like being apart of a big family?”

Chris paused a moment to think, “Yes. I mean I like all of my brothers and I like you and daddy,” he frowned, “You aren’t going to give one of us away, are you? I told Ezra you weren’t.”

“I’m not honey. I was just asking. I don’t wish to neglect any of you.”

“I’m fine. Babies take up a lot of time. I know that.”

Evie smiled. Chris still thought anyone three or younger was still considered a baby.

 

Dinner was made by Orrin who made his wife and best friend’s favorite food. Dessert was a joint creation made by all the older boys. Ezra, JD, and Vin helping with the decoration of the cake.

 

Josiah held his mom’s hand as they walked together down the sidewalk. The others followed along. It was going to be getting dark soon, so they brought flashlights. Vin and JD were riding in the wagon pulled by Orrin while Buck and Nathan walked together and Ezra with Chris.

They reached the open field in time to set to watch the setting sun. Chris brought his glow in the dark ball to play with and while Josiah spent time with mom, the others played around. When it was too dark to see anymore, the little ones were gathered up and they headed home. The wagon was now full of the three youngest on the journey back.

 

Josiah, the responsible one, always the one to agree to help out, basked in his alone time with his mom. He told her about his excitement to try out for the club basketball team this year and how he secretly hoped Chris would join him. He had waited to join until Chris was the minimum age to apply. He told her about what he learned in AWANAs and all the verses he memorized. Evie loved how she was her sons’ secret keeper. She knew she wouldn’t be holding on that title forever or even for much longer.

She had a journal she kept for each of her sons for their high school graduation gift. They held the good memories, the silliness, and heart-warming talks. There were a couple of pictures inside as well that contained birthdays and first times.

There was a cute picture of Josiah when he came back inside the house after bicycle lessons without training wheels. He came in with missing baby teeth and she nearly fainted. Josiah looked like he had been crying before, but now was grinning wildly, showing the gap and chattering on about the tooth fairy giving him money. Orrin walked guiltily inside, rubbing the back of his head. If little Chris wasn’t asleep, Evie was sure she’d have screamed.

Her first thought was that they had injured their friends’ son. They were still new parents and while Josiah had been considering them as his parents because his birth parents were usually on a mission trip, they would forget they were now his guardians.

Josiah showed off a drawing in another photo of his family: Mom, Dad, Josiah and little Chris.

They were mostly stick-figures that had long necks and spider fingers. The big smiles and crazy hair always made Evie smile.

 

“I would call this a success, no one lost any fingers or got lost,” Orrin sighed as he collapsed on the bed.

“Today was wonderful, Orrin. Thank you so much.”

Orrin rolled over and kissed her, “Thank you for being the best mom to our children.”

“I had an amazing husband to help me and make this all possible,” Evie smiled.


End file.
